They’re on your way – you can run locally too!
In a man-versus-machine challenge, the Post’s Nolan Hicks strapped on his cross-trainer Monday to take on a formidable opponent: the New York City subway.
The idea was inspired by a viral TikTok challenge in which two friends tried to outrun Local 1 on foot between the 18th Street and 14th Street stops in Chelsea.
Although their efforts failed, the 46-second clip racked up millions of views on social platforms.
Hicks, the Post’s resident subway expert, decided to use his extensive knowledge of the railroad system to choose his race challenger on the railroad.
He’s a pretty average runner, averaging between 8 and 8 minutes and 30 seconds per mile, but it’s hard for a human to beat a machine in a physical competition. So he tried to use physics to even out the odds a little.
After some consideration, Hicks decided to take on the W, the perfect competitor for the challenge, which uses some of the MTA’s oldest and slowest trains.
He also chose a part of the track with some tight corners that required low speeds, hoping to take advantage of whatever he could.
Whitehall and Town Hall
The first heat saw Hicks attempt to win the W while traversing about a mile and three stops between Whitehall and City Hall.
The route we chose included some obstacles that were difficult to navigate while driving on the pavement.
Whitehall Station is the final stop on the R River before it passes through the East River and enters Brooklyn, so it’s deep underground.
To re-emerge from the basement, Ms. Hicks had to jump over a flight of stairs and then make a mad dash up the escalator to the mezzanine, with many more stairs before reaching the ground level.
From there, Hicks takes a breather and climbs the (surprisingly) steep slope to Wall Street, where he hits a wall and takes a short break beside a statue of a charging bull to ease some of the runners’ cramps. did.
After catching his breath, Hicks heads north as fast as he can, dodging tourists and cars as he weaves between bike lanes and stopped city traffic, his indefatigable pace shuffling along the rails below. tried their best to keep the 40 tons of enemy in front.
His Apple Watch registered 7:28, even though it was twitching. On average, W trains can complete the same trip in about four minutes, according to MTA train tracking.
Hicks was badly beaten, completely gassed, and slightly nauseous.
From Cortland to Rector Street
Undaunted, Hicks steeled herself for her second attempt, attempting a quarter-mile sprint that recreated the viral TikTok single-train race.
The race started on Cortland Street. Hicks stepped out of the station from an exit near the bottom end of the platform and swung his arms as he threw himself against the heavy blast door separating him from the Westfield complex.
From there he jumped up the stairs to Trinity Place and began running down the street at full speed.
As he ran down the first set of stairs he found on his way to Rector Street station, he saw a train already coming into the line. But he wasn’t defeated yet. Using all his speed, he darted along the platform, trying to get to the front of the train before it started again.
But that wasn’t what was meant to be. The door closes and the W train gives Hicks a hard fight and loses.
Asked to weigh in on the tradition, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan couldn’t help but throw some light on the city’s traffic.
“The question is not whether 0.00001% of people can sometimes outrun the subway between two nearby stations. The real question is why can they always outrun traffic in a busy central business district? is.”
